One year ago today: April 19, 2018, the average American is . . .
Five years ago today: April 19, 2014, chuck your "pre-retirement lifestyle".
Nine years ago today: April 19, 2010, not a Trump cottage.
Random years ago today: April 19, 2008, fifty dollars!
Want some fun? Good, go do it and tell me the story. Because I’m broker than I thought. For reasons best understood by other banks, my overseas account has a statement that ends on the 7th. Nor is this the first time that’s got me in a pickle. They also have a habit of sending two statements at year’s end. One for the 31st, and another for January 7th. Guess which version made it into my books? It’s lean times for a while. And you get thrilling pictures like this welcome to Mt. Juliet road sign next to I-40. Staying in Nashville was a real bargain, averaging $15.61 per day, but even that added up.
It remains for some hotshot historian to get into the details, but the recent up-ticks in the economy are probably just optimism. The production system of the USA is not that which can instantly ramp up like it could in the last century. There is less surplus capacity and much of the equipment has fallen into decay. The Obama years were the worst as that candy-ass frittered away billions on lost causes. The health care system is the new IRS for old people, albeit their own fault. If you have nothing to hide, you’ll wish you did once you get old and sick and default on a single medical bill. What I’m saying is the whole business system teeters on a premise like that. A house of cards, in this instance, credit cards.
Merely having Trump in the White House is enough to send a crack of light through the door, but it has little staying power. Trump should, but cannot cut off the welfare programs he inherited. America needs a strongman for that. But we have a political structure that ensures somebody with the testicular fortitude to turn off the tap will never get into power by election. Canada shows that no matter how bad things get, people on welfare will never vote for real change. And it takes decades to get results by tightening up the rules. Cruel as it sounds, maybe these single mothers need to hear the sound of screaming babies who are really hungry. And it should be done before there is no choice.
From ground level, there is no surge in production or job openings. Except for spot results, big business hasn’t really noticed any improvements. So that leaves smaller outfits where tiny percents of gain are cause for celebration. If I could sell 500 hotdogs a month, my profit margins would be off the charts. I’ve had time to look into that again, particularly how I say that it is not really a one-man business. It could be with enough peripheral help, such as a small refrigerated trailer of supplies.
This is related to another set of calculations I sometimes call “the ugly statistics”. One is the amount of money tied up to ensure ongoing operations. Think about that a moment, it is not just inventory. You need a change float, gas, insurance, licensing, and such. But also enough cash to tide over bad days and the inevitable repairs. In the case of a hotdog cart, the total cash-on-hand is going to be around $4,000. This bolsters my contention that most American small business has no backup other than a credit card.
Yet, it also means that I don’t have to worry much about competition or Agt. R striking out on his own. I can state with confidence there ain’t nobody around this town capable of putting that much money away. That horrible statistic about 70% of Americans living week-to-week needs on to be expanded to a full month to reach 95%. If you ask me.
Abba, today.
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How broke am I? It was in to Winter Haven to raid my piggy bank. On the way back I hit the spring monsoon. I barely made it into the Funbar in time to avoid the closedown of the highway. What happens is the storm floods the culverts and the water starts washing over the pavement. Bigger culverts are not the answer. I limped home via the Old Eagle Lake Road just before dark. The weather would not let up, so I was curled up with a book about these guys that escaped from a Siberian prison. And letters. I wrote a lot of letters. My powers of observation tell me the best time to put money away is always some time in the past. Sure, Churchill could put that better, but the message is clear.
Charla showed me pictures of her backbone plants. They are the size of small hedges. I’d asked because the clippings she gave me are finally showing some leaf. If they can grow shoulder high, maybe I should replant them a little further from the property line. Check back soon. I might as well start work early and as for food, the shed has emergency supplies for weeks on end. Magnolia Plantation, it just hit me. That’s the name of the tourist trap I stopped at in Georgia. With the $35 bags of pecans. I opted for the $6 sample of fudge.
I mailed the fudge to Alaine for $7.25. I’m squarely in that category of retiree whose future has been stolen by inflation. My numbers are okay, but in my lifetime the dollar has dropped to ten cents value. Put the other way, 90 cents of the dollar has been taken away by people I do not like or respect for causes I do not support. There is no consolation that everybody else has been stung, but there is some to the fact they generally will be hurt a lot more by it. While we all know it would happen, so many did not prepare adequately. Not even a hotdog cart, you might say.
ADDENDUM
Trump didn’t collude with the Russians. But is this finally over? No way, the Democrats have to either keep on squabbling about it or admit what it really was—a cheap third-world attempt to take out an elected popular leader. Folks, this is only the beginning. The leftist press, more specifically The New York Times and The Washington Post are the propaganda machines of the American left. There is no right and wrong with that mob. There is only Liberal and Nazi, no in between.
Ah, but isn’t the M-report the last word? Nope, because what is needed is an apology and a witch hunt. Trump supporters aren’t fooled by a 400-page “report” that does not categorically state Trump is innocent, but rather says there “is not enough evidence”, which is all the implying a libtard needs. Understand, this is standard leftist, communist, liberal behavior. To admit there is no evidence in the first place is to admit it was a malicious accusation.and they can’t do that. Remember, these are the people that stated repeatedly that they had evidence for that is how they got the search warrants. They should be shot.
My position is easy to understand. I don’t believe in enforced “sharing” of resources. While there should be a safety net, it should represent gut-stretching hunger for those who don’t work, and that would include the millions who put themselves into positions where they cannot work. Such as single-mothers, drug addicts, and those with most brands of anxiety. The cure for these things is, I believe, real hunger, but it has never been tried. I see people every day who would get off their asses if they were allowed to go hungry just a day or two.
Instead of moving on, the Democrat apparatchuk has to start up with more obstruction charges and making more accusations. The wonder of the American system is they cannot be punished for what amounts to slander and rumor-mongering. The positive side is that they have pretty much sunk as low as they can. The most diehard liberals must by now be squirming in embarrassment over the whole stinking mess they’ve made of it.
And the only good liberal is, well, there is no such thing. People who steal from others are parasites and that is that. Like the radio says, taking people’s money against their will is stealing. Stealing is wrong, and so is electing people to steal for you. How would this country be run without taxes? Just fine, thank you. What few government services I use, I pay through the nose for. It is now 55 cents to mail a letter. The first letter I mailed in my life it was 3 cents.
